Author Archives: Robkeene

Apologies; this first section applies to the previous day. I was just so immersed in explaining our change of plans that I forgot to conclude the day!

After our decision to change our plan we had to chose an apartment on Booking. com at a the last minute.

We ended up finding ourselves in an empty 3 storey apartment block next to a smelly factory making hamburger boxes!

We had to wait 30 minutes for our host to show up and find us a room.

He chose one on the top floor!! Just what we needed, was 6 flights of stairs to carry all our luggage and batteries to charge!

He kindly ordered us a pizza and wine then left us all alone in this massive apartment block.

Unfortunately the air conditioning was broken and due to the heat it was very necessary. I went down to the empty reception and took an another room key from behind the desk and fortunately the adjacent room a/c unit produced cooler air. We moved rooms and although there was no hot water, it was nicely refreshing!

Day 2 updated

Day 3

I gingerly crept down the 6 flights of stairs in the morning and was very happy to see all tyres were still fully inflated😁

We arrived at our lodgings in good time and so headed off to the lake for a swim, to cool down, especially my now swollen breast!

After a trip to the garage next door to beg for a little milk for our morning brew, we packed up and were on our way by 10 am. An early start for a change.

There was a fairly good bike track through the town for 5 kms, then we were on a straight boring road for about 20 kms. Not too busy and wide enough not to feel in danger,as before

We stopped for a coffee in a village and then had a snack in another one. The temperature was soaring so I took off my shirt to get more air around me. Within 5 minutes I crossed paths with a hornet, who obviously thought he had the right of way, and retaliated with a vicious sting above my right nipple. Extremely painful for quite some time.

We cooled off with a swim in warm yellowish water then sat down for a rest. Spotting new visitors on the beach these 2 swans waddled up from the lake onto the beach and came right up us, pestering us for food. As we didn’t give them anything, they rebelled by dumping 5 large poos right in sand in front of us😡🤭

I really think that there should be a swan ban from beaches during the summer months; otherwise it seems that dogs are being discriminated against!

A good meal in a nearby restaurant and we were feeling in a much more relaxed mood, after arriving at a more scenic place.

Finally I must apologise to my lovely wife for suggesting, in a comment, that it was she who didn’t want to proceed with the EV 6 route to the Black Sea. I originally suggested that there was an alternative vélo route ahead leading to many more dedicated cycle routes and between us we agreed that it was a better option.

A hot day was forecast and I became much hotter, when I realised that both bikes had flat rear tyres🤬

As Sue started to pack the bags I started replacing the tubes in a shady bit by the motel.

When the bikes are not loaded it is fairly easy to remove wheels and tyres.

I decided to replace the tubes with new ones to save time.

Annoyingly, the new tubes had different valves, so I couldn’t seem to inflate the tube at all. Neither pump appeared to work🤔🤔.

Finally I removed the tube and realised I’d been sold a new porous tube😡. So many holes it just wouldn’t pump up! Made in China of course

Luckily the other one was OK and after lots of frustration, we were ready to leave into the midday scorching sun.

We followed a small road alongside the tributary of the Danube, then it sent us onto a very pot-holey sandy track that was hard work but much more scenic.

Unfortunately this soon led us onto a busy narrow main road, which we had to share with buses and lorries for 20 km. Not fun at all, especially trying to avoid roadside potholes; equally as bad as the UK ones!

This was the first time in 2900 km that we’d been subjected to these scary riding conditions for so long.

We finally made it to Rackeve, and found a little shack under a vine, selling catfish & chips and cold beer!

It was at this point we had a serious discussion about the remainder of the trip.

We became suspicious as we’d only seen one other touring cyclist on the EV 6 since Budapest, 80 kms away. So very different to before Budapest, when every few minutes you passed someone else.

It made us realise that this was probably going to be the norm for the next 1000 miles to the Black Sea: a lack of cycling infrastructure through the eastern countries as they don’t seem to have the resources to develope them.

We had long ago decided that if either of us were no longer enjoying the trip, we would not pursue it regardless.

We’d been told that the Serbian/ Bulgarian/ Romanian drivers were rather dangerous and also that there would be plenty of road cycling in the future.

We decided to continue to the next crossing point of the Danube and decide whether to continue heading south east following the river, or to cross the river and head westwards.

The trail then became much better, and more scenic, making ourbdecision harder.

We arrived at the bridge crossing of the Danube and decided to head west and say goodbye to the original plan. 😪

It felt like we’d given up on a long time ambition, so I was slightly disappointed, but also relieved that we weren’t subjecting ourselves to miles of scary road work.

Instead we’ve committed to exploring the pretty parts of countries we’ve yet to visit.

The new plan is to head west and explore the interesting parts of Hungary, including Europe’s largest lake: Balaton, then head west to the Adriatic Sea, via Slovenia and Croatia.

We’re now on a new mission and will keep you all updated.

A year ago in early September we set off from Nantes on the Eurovélo route No 6 across Europe, following the Loire river eastwards.

We flew last Monday to Budapest via Geneva to collect our bikes from Gabor, who’d kindly kept them in his garage through the summer months.

On Tuesday morning we lugged our heavy bike bags to the station and boarded our train to Pecel.

Fortunately Gabor was waiting for us at the station and we were soon at his home using his garage to change tyres and chains, ready for the final leg.

At 13:00 we were off, into the heat of the day. 34 degrees again.

It wasn’t a ride that we were looking forward to, as it was not a marked trail, but 25kms through lots of suburbs of Budapest with masses of big road and rail crossings.

It proved to be as bad as we thought, and worse with the heat.

A nice 3 km through some woods raised our spirits, although the mosquitos liked that environment as well!

As we started to leave the suburbs we were looking forward to joining the EV 6 route and a proper cycle path That was when when I had my first puncture🤬

I suppose with hedges being cut, we’re into thorny season, so to be expected; but not on our first day!

Lucking we were going through a shady wood, so it wasn’t so hot, but nevertheless, having to remove all the bags and replace the tube whilst being eaten by mossies wasn’t what we needed.

Finally we joined the cycle route along a tributary of the Danube, and we were much happier! Only 15 km to our destination on the trail.

Unfortunately I’d booked a motel on the other side of the river, which meant crossing a river with heavy traffic.

Sue was not happy but managed it without too much drama, until we came to a busy road crossing. I heard some loud expletives and looked back to see she’d thrown her bike into the verge.😡

We were only 400 metres from our motel and she’d had a puncture.

I pumped it up and we managed to made the last little bit with no problem.

After a shower we felt better, and found a really good restaurant for some welcome drink and I enjoyed a tasty catfish pasta and cheese dish, whilst Sue found a succulent steak, washed down with a cold rosé, started to make her calm down somewhat!

The last day of this leg started badly. We woke up to the smell of sewerage coming through the bathroom drains😡.

After a very mediocre breakfast I went to prepare the bikes for their final day of the trip, only to find my rear tyre was flat.

On greater inspection I decided to replace the tyre as, after 3600 km, it was getting a bit bald.

Whilst I had the wheel off, I also decided to change the chain as I could feel the links were getting loose.

I fitted the new one but couldn’t get it to look right. I became annoyed that I was missing something with the derailleur gear setup, but I couldn’t sort it. Then I checked the length of the new chain against the old one and realised it was 6 links shorter🤬

Annoyingly I then had to refit the worn chain, and this whole saga had wasted much of the morning.

We finally straddled the bikes and set off to the river trail for a coffee by the river to wind down a little.

The first 15 km were pleasant, but then, as we approached Budapest, the trail followed busy roads and it was not so fun.

We left the EV 6 and headed east along through more suburbs. Many traffic lights and dropped curbs, made progress slow.

We followed a marked bike route but then came to a multitrack railway with a high bridge gantry over it. There was a small channel to push a bike up, but we’d have had to unload the luggage and carry it over. Otherwise the bikes would have been too heavy to push.

There was a path to the side of the railway tracks, and we saw a man take his lightweight bike over them, so I decided to follow him and bump our bikes to the other side.

After this drama the route improved as we left the city. After another 20 kms we made it to Pécel.

Gabor, who is a pilot and microlight manufacturer in Hungary, has kindly let us store his bikes in his garage for 3 months until we return in the autumn to continue heading east.

After a 25 minute journey we were back in Budapest for a 2 night break before heading back to France.

We decided to have supper on a riverboat, and upon walking the 10 minutes to the river, we saw a dinner cruise boarding.

Unfortunately it was fully booked, but 2 people hadn’t showed up, so just before the gang plank was raised and the 2 hadn’t arrived, they let us on to enjoy a great trip, with food, music and dancing.

Total travelled this trip has been 1008 kms.

Total travelled since Nantes has been 2854 kms.

Another fun trip, and we have again had super weather with only one day of rain and soggy feet, apart from a drizzly morning when we were in Vienna, not cycling.

Back to France on Thursday to give our bums a break!

I’ve often wanted to go to God; I had lots of questions I had for him????

When I saw a town en route named after him, I thought this was my opportunity. We booked into the Aphrodite hotel, another God, and thought this was a place we should definitely visit.

Before we set off for God, our host at the water tower had suggested a walk to the confluence of the Ipoly and the Danube was definitely worth it.

True to his word it was stunning. A wildlife haven with abundant flowers and birdsong.

Before we took to the trail, we pedalled into Szob and enjoyed some delicious Hungarian cake for breakfast.

When we arrived at God, we found a bar and enjoyed an excellent local IPA, and Sue a Hungarian sparkling wine.

Aphrodite was a disappointment, but the girl on the check in desk, could possibly have been her sister??😍. She even helped carry our panniers to our room!

We ended the day with a hot Goulash soup, washed down with a 12 year old Greek Metaxa…….heaven.

We had a hearty breakfast in the farmhouse and watched our American friends depart. They had a longer leg planned than us, so left earlier.

We cycled up to the basilica and were amazed by its size. We had originally spotted it from 20 km away

From our lunch stop we continued east on the dodgy Slovakian trail, then crossed a small bridge into Hungary, where the trail immediately improved dramatically and took us away from the road.

It wasn’t long before we found our accommodation for the night!

This old water tower was built to supply steam trains, and had been redundant for many years. Our host had bought it at auction 10 years ago and gradually turned it into a guest house with 5 rooms.

He straight away gave me a cold beer and Sue a bottle of his home made red wine( which she really enjoyed!!) then he delighted in showing us around how he’d made all the rooms with a railway theme..

As there were no other guests we had the whole tower to ourselves, although we didn’t run up and down the 65 steps too much; except when I’d forgotten the phone charging leads which were still on the bike😡

Our most unusual and interesting place to stay so far; and all for £60.

After 2 long days we decided for a late start and had a look around the pretty town.

The first 10 km we followed the river on a gravel path. It took a while to get used to gravel again, as we’ve hardly had anything but tarmac this trip.

This was a fairly new trail, but I don’t understand the need to plant more trees on either side, whose roots will eventually lift the track into speed bumps!

Enough history; now we were hungry. We found a great restaurant in the centre and sat outside, people watching!! A street performer was playing some relaxing tunes and we ate some beautifully cooked duck and salmon.

The nightingale that sat in the tree outside our room, had a beautiful song to sing. It sung me to sleep very quickly, but Sue had to shut the window as it was too much for her. Apparently that is when my snoring started, which kept her awake more much of the night!🤭

We left Bratislava, but not before a photo at the Blue Church. A famous building in town.

After our 5 minutes of sightseeing, we then had a rather featureless pedal along the river dyke for 20kms or so.

We then came across a new motorway bridge. Here we chose to cross the river to avoid more boring dykes and see some of the countryside in Hungary away from the river.

We crossed on a very swish cycle path attached to the side of this bridge. Great views of the wide river

The stork had arrived back to his nest and was making it even grander.

Hungary was much less busy on the cycle trail. It seemed much less populated than our previous countries. The trails all were separate to the road but followed the same route so the traffic noise was always there.

Either side the countryside comprised of massive fields of very friable, fertile soil. The lands stretched as far as you could see, punctuated by clouds of dust emerging from the back of enormous tractors pulling wide machinery preparing seedbeds.

They had planted trees alongside the path, but now the roots were lifting the tarmac so they acted like speed bumps; not great on a bike!

A long hot day of cycling and we arrived in Györ at 6pm to find our booked apartment had no reception and no one would answer the phone to give us the code to get in😡 Not what we needed.

Luckily a nearby hotel had a room with a very helpful receptionist, and after bumping the bikes down stairs into the dungeon, we were settled for the night.

The 12th day was forecast to be miserable and drizzly, so we planned another cultural day at the impressive Schönbrunn schloss.

4 kms of multiple, confusing, city cycle lanes didn’t impress Sue, but we arrived no problem.

It was a magnificent palace built when Austria had an Empire with Emperors and Empresses .

A massive garden with mature tree avenues that stretched for miles.

We were Schlossed out so headed back to Vienna centre for some night views of the fabulous buildings.

After our 2 day break in Vienna we mounted our bikes on 9 th May and set off into a sunny day.

The route soon took us to the Blue Danube and dropped us onto a 20 km long artificial island in the middle of the river. A great place for cycling, walking, and other activities, such as naturism!

Whilst resting, we watched this guy endlessly making bubbles for children who didn’t tire from chasing them

A very pleasant leisurely ride to Vienna, after the 104 km the day before.

(Unfortunately I lost my second pair of reading glasses so couldn’t update yesterday’s blog until I bought a new pair today!)

Another hot day as we headed eastwards. We stopped for a break at a little stand in a park on the outskirts on the city.

I ordered a small Prosecco for Sue and a big beer for me.

It was pretty easy to get to the centre, although there were many bikes, electric scooters , tramlines and people to weave through, en route to our hotel.

We parked our bikes in the locked garage and aimed to rest our legs and bums for 2 bike free days!

After a snooze, we set off for some evening culture and enjoyed 2 hours of great classical hits in the Musikverein hall.

Day 11.

A cooler cloudy day, so a good one for a city tour.

First stop was a surprise for Sue. I’d booked tickets to see the white Lipizzaner stallions doing training at the Spanish Horse school.

A fancy 400 year old dressage building. Unfortunately no photographs were permitted, so I found one online, to give non horsey people an idea what a Lipizzaner horse looks like.

The balcony where Mozart did his first concert aged 6

A side line attraction took us to this entertaining illusion museum.

That was a lot for one day, and more music coming later.